No surge in Covid instances in India regardless of presence of Omicron variants

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India has not seen a surge in Covid-19 instances regardless of the presence of all Omicron sub-variants, together with these taking pictures up numbers in China and the US.

Indian authorities had raised the alarm after a spike in Covid instances in neighbouring China and East Asia. They took a number of measures, together with random testing of two per cent of worldwide travellers and asking arrivals from hotspot nations like China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong to hold Covid damaging stories.

But aside from Kerala, which reported a marginal rise in Covid instances, no different state has reported a hike since well being authorities requested states to step up vigil and surveillance and warned of a surge in January.

Since December second week, India has reported lower than 1,500 Covid instances, mentioned NC Krishnaprasad, a Covid information analyst from Kerala.

He advised TNIE that “there has not been a significant rise in Covid cases and deaths across India.”

From December 15 to 21, India reported 1069 Covid instances and 16 deaths. Similarly, from December 22 to twenty-eight, 1399 Covid instances and 17 deaths have been registered. The following week (December 29 to Jan 4), 1404 Covid instances and 12 deaths have been reported. 

From Jan 5 to Jan 10, 896 Covid instances have been registered, whereas 12 deaths have been reported to date, he mentioned.

Said Dr Ok S Reddy, Distinguished Professor of Public Health, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), “The Omicron family of variants are likely to cause periodic fluctuations in the numbers of infections, with ripples or mini-waves, but there is unlikely to be a tidal wave of serious cases.” 

“We need to keep a watch on serious infections and feel reassured if those numbers are low,” he advised TNIE.

According to Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, a famend epidemiologist and co-chairman of the National Indian Medical Association (IMA) Covid-19 job drive, a first-rate concern could be the era of a variant that the world has not seen earlier than. 

“India is now ten months past the last wave, which puts the country at risk for a future wave, especially in the event of a markedly different version of the virus appearing either from within the country or outside,” he mentioned, including that from the restricted airport surveillance information, no new variant has to date been recognized.

Speaking with TNIE, Gautam Menon, Professor of Biology and Physics at Ashoka University, mentioned that India has not seen a surge – regardless of the concern – as a consequence of hybrid immunity from a mix of previous Delta and Omicron infections and doses of vaccination. 

“This is expected to have a protective effect. Since the Chinese population has not sustained an infection before their opening up although they have been vaccinated, one would expect, as is indeed being seen, an increase in deaths in vulnerable populations such as the elderly.”

He, nonetheless, mentioned that instances are prone to rise, however we’re unlikely to see any important and sustained surge in hospitalisations or extreme illness. 

According to the World Health Organisation, the South East Asia (SEARO) area has seen a 26 per cent dip in Covid instances from December 26 to January 1, as over 8,000 new instances have been reported. The world well being physique mentioned within the area, the very best proportional will increase in new instances have been reported from Timor-Leste, Nepal and Myanmar. Globally, throughout this era 22 per cent discount in weekly instances was reported.

A WHO emergency committee will meet on January 27 to contemplate whether or not Covid-19 pandemic nonetheless represents a world emergency.

The well being ministry additionally mentioned on Monday that India had detected the presence of all Omicron sub-variants of Covid-19 locally after testing greater than 300 samples since December 29 and no mortality or rise in transmission has been reported.

NEW DELHI: India has not seen a surge in Covid-19 instances regardless of the presence of all Omicron sub-variants, together with these taking pictures up numbers in China and the US.

Indian authorities had raised the alarm after a spike in Covid instances in neighbouring China and East Asia. They took a number of measures, together with random testing of two per cent of worldwide travellers and asking arrivals from hotspot nations like China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong to hold Covid damaging stories.

But aside from Kerala, which reported a marginal rise in Covid instances, no different state has reported a hike since well being authorities requested states to step up vigil and surveillance and warned of a surge in January.

Since December second week, India has reported lower than 1,500 Covid instances, mentioned NC Krishnaprasad, a Covid information analyst from Kerala.

He advised TNIE that “there has not been a significant rise in Covid cases and deaths across India.”

From December 15 to 21, India reported 1069 Covid instances and 16 deaths. Similarly, from December 22 to twenty-eight, 1399 Covid instances and 17 deaths have been registered. The following week (December 29 to Jan 4), 1404 Covid instances and 12 deaths have been reported. 

From Jan 5 to Jan 10, 896 Covid instances have been registered, whereas 12 deaths have been reported to date, he mentioned.

Said Dr Ok S Reddy, Distinguished Professor of Public Health, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), “The Omicron family of variants are likely to cause periodic fluctuations in the numbers of infections, with ripples or mini-waves, but there is unlikely to be a tidal wave of serious cases.” 

“We need to keep a watch on serious infections and feel reassured if those numbers are low,” he advised TNIE.

According to Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, a famend epidemiologist and co-chairman of the National Indian Medical Association (IMA) Covid-19 job drive, a first-rate concern could be the era of a variant that the world has not seen earlier than. 

“India is now ten months past the last wave, which puts the country at risk for a future wave, especially in the event of a markedly different version of the virus appearing either from within the country or outside,” he mentioned, including that from the restricted airport surveillance information, no new variant has to date been recognized.

Speaking with TNIE, Gautam Menon, Professor of Biology and Physics at Ashoka University, mentioned that India has not seen a surge – regardless of the concern – as a consequence of hybrid immunity from a mix of previous Delta and Omicron infections and doses of vaccination. 

“This is expected to have a protective effect. Since the Chinese population has not sustained an infection before their opening up although they have been vaccinated, one would expect, as is indeed being seen, an increase in deaths in vulnerable populations such as the elderly.”

He, nonetheless, mentioned that instances are prone to rise, however we’re unlikely to see any important and sustained surge in hospitalisations or extreme illness. 

According to the World Health Organisation, the South East Asia (SEARO) area has seen a 26 per cent dip in Covid instances from December 26 to January 1, as over 8,000 new instances have been reported. The world well being physique mentioned within the area, the very best proportional will increase in new instances have been reported from Timor-Leste, Nepal and Myanmar. Globally, throughout this era 22 per cent discount in weekly instances was reported.

A WHO emergency committee will meet on January 27 to contemplate whether or not Covid-19 pandemic nonetheless represents a world emergency.

The well being ministry additionally mentioned on Monday that India had detected the presence of all Omicron sub-variants of Covid-19 locally after testing greater than 300 samples since December 29 and no mortality or rise in transmission has been reported.